Lorn’s Lure (opens in new tab)<\/span>, an upcoming indie from solo developer Rubeki, instantly hooked me with its free demo on Steam. This first person plstformer has you playing an android exploring the vast, industrial ruins of a lost civilization, pursuing some manner of biblically accurate angel-come-glitch in reality through the impossibly ancient rusted hulk.<\/p>\n

Playing Lorn’s Lure reminded me of last year’s fantastic Scorn (opens in new tab)<\/span> in a weird way\u2060\u2014it’s a vastly different gameplay experience and things are certainly more low-fi and less icky<\/em> than with Scorn, but these unnerving apocalyptic vistas are still familiar\u2014the Lorn’s Lure demo level made me feel like I was crawling through the innards of some colossal beast in the same way Scorn did. It’s great stuff, bolstered by an eerie ambient soundtrack.<\/p>\n

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The central pillar of Lorn’s Lure’s first person platforming is a pair of climbing axes, and they enable a stamina-limited climbing system reminiscent of Breath of the Wild or Shadow of the Colossus. Lorn’s Lure presents this vast, vertical level without a clear path forward, and it’s up to you to pick your way across climbable and non-climbable surfaces, finding your own way to the exit.<\/p>\n
That sense of puzzle solving and pathfinding is crucial to Lorn’s Lure’s core loop, but I really appreciate that Rubeki included opt-in waypoint hints. If you’re ever lost, you can activate a compass point leading you in the right direction for a brief duration. It’s deliberately limited though, just nudging you from one set piece to the next, but that’s part of the appeal to me: it’s a perfect midpoint between an always-on Skyrim GPS constantly holding your hand and some more unfriendly retro experiences like the older Jedi Knight games, where it could feel like I was never not lost.<\/p>\n
This free demo also contains a hidden level unlocked by discovering all of the hidden collectibles in the base map, and the full game promises to be a rich, engrossing, and atmospheric platforming experience. Lorn’s Lure currently has no set release date, but you can check out the demo yourself and wishlist it on Steam (opens in new tab)<\/span>, while creator Rubeki is active on Twitter<\/a> (opens in new tab)<\/span> and Patreon (opens in new tab)<\/span>.<\/p>\n
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Image 1 of 4<\/p>\n
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$\"Lorn's$ <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>
(Image credit: Rubeki)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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$\"pondering$ <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>
(Image credit: Rubeki)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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$\"Gazing$ <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>
(Image credit: Rubeki)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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$\"Darkened$ <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>
(Image credit: Rubeki)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n